Going to the source soon to find out what’s going on. Trip to Louisville and environs coming up….
Buffalo Trace - Best Whiskies or Best Marketers?
- Thread starter 12stones
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Holy smokes. Saw a few bottles of Sazerac Rye this evening. Got excited for the millisecond before I remembered it was up high behind the cashier. Formerly $28. Now $77.
:-(
:-(
I suggest everyone who loves bourbon or whiskey take the whiskey trail tours. Both Kentucky and Tennessee offer self-guided or all inclusive guided tours that hit all the major distillers in an area. The rackhouse tours where multiple brands are stored, graded, and sampled was great. I am not a fan of the re-branding and smash bill bottlers who use a major distiller to make their whiskey then they slap their custom label on it to up charge a premium. I see people raving about a certain whiskey brand distilled in Chicago, IL, the same distiller also makes a run of the cheapest. Same equipment & technique, slightly different smash bill, same barrels? Guessing we pay for the aging and blending part.
My FiL scored a couple of bottles of Blantons recently, and shared a pour with us over Easter. I found it ok, but nothing special. We discussed the fact that Blantons, and other BT products, used to be readily available and why that is no longer the case. To my knowledge, they have not had a fire or other scenario resulting in lost barrels. Has anyone heard a practical reason for this?
This are my thoughts on the subject. I may be completely wrong.
From years of drinking Blanton’s I can say that the product varies quite a bit depending on which barrel you get. It’s always good but not always exceptional. I used to keep a list of exceptional barrel numbers and tried to find more bottles from that barrel. This was before Blanton became so hard to find.
Buffalo Trace produces some of the most sought after Bourbons in the world. I feel that a lot of their products are bought as soon as they hit the shelves due to association with the Pappy and Weller lines. Single Barrels like Blantons are rare just because they don’t produce much each year.
Bourbons like Eagle Rare which still carry an age statement of 10yrs are rare simply because there’s only so much that was barreled. We’re just now starting to see ramped up production of bourbons that were barreled 5-10yrs ago. When the bourbon craze really took off 7-8yrs ago the 10yrs were barreled in the early to mid 2000’s when clear liquors were still the “in” liquors. Distilleries just weren’t laying down a lot of bourbon back then because it wouldn’t sell. When the bourbon craze started distilleries had to bottle a lot of bourbon to keep up and a lot of products lost their age statement, there just wasn’t enough aged bourbon for the demand.
All of these things lead to rarity, or at least perceived rarity, of products. I think we’ll start to see some increased availability in the next 3-5yrs as the distilleries catch up their supplies of aged bourbons. Maybe by then something else will be all the rage and it will leave all the nicely aged bourbons for us.
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I pretty much echo what @Whisky said. They didn't lose any supply due to a fire or anything like that, but demand shot up much more quickly than supply.
When the demand for Pappy took off, everything Buffalo Trace followed. That made it all harder to find right off the bat. Then, the rarity fed off itself. Everyone wants it because it's rare, and they'll hoard it, and that makes it even more difficult to find. The sky-high secondary market doesn't help. That's the demand side.
On the supply side, you can't just snap your fingers and have more aged bourbon. Likewise, you can't just snap your fingers and increase production capacity. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time, and they weren't keen on making that investment for a while because there's so much risk involved. That's the conundrum with whisk(e)y of any sort. You don't want to make that significant investment only to see a fad fizzle out before you even get to bottle the stuff.
They did get around to increasing production capacity, but it still will be a little while before we see it on the shelves. In the end, there's other stuff out there. I still like Blantons, and I grabbed a few bottles over the last couple of years, but I'll never chase it or any other whisk(e)y around town.
If you want to see the risks and reasons why a lot of Bourdon distillers are reluctant to ramp up production look at Scotch. When Scotch was the popular liquor back in the 70’s all the big Scotch distillers ramped up production. When Vodka became the cool liquor the distillers were left holding a lot of Product that no one wanted to buy. Something like 20 distilleries went out of business in the 80s.
Fast forward to today and Scotch is once again becoming popular although some think it’s kind of riding Bourbon’s coattails. There are new Distilleries being opened and old distilleries being brought back to life.
Who knows, maybe Scotch will take over Bourbon as the most sought after Whisk(e)y.
Of course there are some of us that would argue that Scotch never went of style in the first place.
Fast forward to today and Scotch is once again becoming popular although some think it’s kind of riding Bourbon’s coattails. There are new Distilleries being opened and old distilleries being brought back to life.
Who knows, maybe Scotch will take over Bourbon as the most sought after Whisk(e)y.
Of course there are some of us that would argue that Scotch never went of style in the first place.
The Scots have to move even slower than anyone else on the market. 4 years for Bourbon is plenty, the Irish can sell fresh Potain but a 4/6/8 year Single Malt for a premium? No way it would fly off the shelves. Not to say that you can’t find an exceptional fine youngster by handpicking casks but you can’t built production volume on it.
My new SIL is on a Greek island. Today he sent a photo of three 70cl bottles of Blanton’s on a liquor store shelf: Blanton’s, Gold, and Straight from the Barrel. I think two of those bottles are coming back to the US! Prices are still a bit crazy, but much lower than aftermarket here.
Reading Pappyland is giving some insight to the bourbon world…
Reading Pappyland is giving some insight to the bourbon world…
All of these spirits run in cycles. In the early 2000's bourbon was still not on "everyones" radar. Then everything changed. There are many super high quality spirits available that are NOT on everyones radar. There are quality rums, tequilas, etc. that are very fine and are not $5K+/750ml so I tend to roll with what is not WAY overpriced and 12-23 yer old bourbon right now is WAY overpriced. Just my $0.02.
I love me some Blanton's, but it's impossible to find in these parts.
As long as I've got a bottle of Russell's Reserve 10 Year, I'm happy. One of the better bourbons under $40 IMO.
As long as I've got a bottle of Russell's Reserve 10 Year, I'm happy. One of the better bourbons under $40 IMO.
And that's why you see so many shifting to NAS expressions.
Spot on. I also think the Japanese whiskey distilleries are somewhat riding coattails as well and commanding premium prices.
True and stuff like the Ardbeg 5y Wee Beastie.
Certainly cheaper than most places around nowadays…
Received another report from Athens today. Blanton's and Eagle Rare are widely available and used for mixing at the bars. Old Fashioned? Blanton's. Whiskey and Coke? Eagle Rare. The bartender said that was typical at the bar they visited today. I wonder what percentage of Buffalo Trace gets shipped overseas, and I wonder about the profit margins of sending it there vs sending it to my liquor store.
Anyone putting ER in a Whiskey and Coke needs to be boxed upside the head. That's what Jack Daniels is for!
I am that guy who mixes ER and Coke Zero, because I am not a fan of it neat or on the rocks. I never buy ER, but I’ve been gifted several bottles recently.
I finished reading Pappyland by Wright Thompson last night. In 1986, Julian Van Winkle said he sold whiskey to a distributor who wanted to sell it in Japan. He said the profit margin for export was slim compared to the US market, “but it provided some cash flow.” I figure that would be the case now, so I wonder why it is sent overseas when there is demand here. In case bourbon falls out of favor here?
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